


and i wish i didn't find you

by squirrelcheeks



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Crack, First Dates, Fluff and Crack, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Soulmates, Vibrators, bestfriend mingyu, idk what tags to put, im just bored, implied verkwan - Freeform, jeongcheol mentioned, joshua is cute here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26047615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirrelcheeks/pseuds/squirrelcheeks
Summary: wherein your soulmate randomly finds the stuff you lose or misplace.arabella (you) is a careless girl and one day the quiet (and cute) guy “Joshua” from math class suddenly finds a vibrator on top of his desk.
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Reader, Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Kudos: 17





	and i wish i didn't find you

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this is a short fic i wrote while on social media detox. i apologize for the inconsistencies, and i'll try to write better ones when my state gets better as well. nonetheless, i had fun with this one <3

Joshua Hong has always been ‘the perfect guy’. He’s well-behaved, regularly on top of his class (valedictorian in high school and is eyeing to graduate engineering with flying honors), and can still be considered as a ‘fun guy’. Although he’s generally a quiet guy in class, he goes out to party when he can, but sets the line when there’s mountains of school works he has to finish. He also did try dating other people before (both guys and girls), but that was before he found out who his soulmate is.

While he finds it interesting that he has already found his soulmate, (there are people who can reach 50 years without finding theirs, because you can’t force it. You can’t intentionally “lose” your stuff and hope for your soulmate to give them back to you), he doesn’t like to put much thought to it. So when he randomly found Arabella’s wallet at the coffee shop he’s a regular at, he just shrugged and put it in her desk before their Integral Calculus class- the only class they share, and basically the only common thing they have. He admits though, that he finds comfort in the fact that he knows who she is, at least when he’s ready, he knows who to look for.

Today is a Wednesday, meaning he has the said Integral Calculus class. He’s currently in Physics and his seatmate, Vernon, keeps on whining about his soulmate. **“I mean, Josh, this is the 4 th charger cord they lost in 3 months. I don’t even own an android so what the heck am I supposed to do with these?!”** Vernon says whisper-screamingly, because their professor is sleeping soundly in front of them. He left them a seatwork, which the two already finished. **“Keep them, at least you have 4 extra cords when you decide to go android.”** Joshua replies while yawning. To this, the other one pouts, **“I don’t plan on getting an Android though.”** Joshua chuckles on this and just shakes his head. **“Maybe we’re bestfriends because our soulmates are just the most careless people in this world.”**

Joshua sits back and fiddles with his pen, **“Seriously, though, why are they so careless? I mean my soulmate lost her mechanical pencil thrice last week.” “Oh yeah, about that, did you give it back to Math class girl?”** Vernon whispers. **“I left it at her chair last Monday with a note saying, _‘hi. For you.’_ And… well… she squeaked and excitedly put it in her bag.”** Their professor suddenly snorts and clears his throat, and just like that, he’s awake and everyone rushes their seatworks because they know he’ll collect them in an instant. The pair quiets down and takes out their notebooks as they get ready to submit their work and listen to the professor.

Physics ends in a blur and the two of them part ways. He still has some 30 minutes to spare but he’s not hungry so he heads straight to their classroom instead of picking up snacks from the convenience store. He sits beside Seungcheol in Integral, who knows about his soulmate situation- that he knows who his soulmate is, but he left out the part that it’s Arabella, the noisy girl in Math Class.

As if on cue, Arabella arrives with her best friend, Mingyu, who was his classmate in Differential Calculus class last term, too. Joshua suspects he’s the one who got her to take this specific class with him. And of course, in a very Arabella manner, her voice is loud enough for everyone to hear whatever she’s saying. **“But, Mingyu, I really saved up for this! I didn’t have midnight deliveries for 3 weeks to buy it!”** Mingyu rolls his eyes at her, **“Then you should have taken good care of your Airpods! Why do you have to be so careless?”** Joshua doesn’t mean to eavesdrop but their voices are really loud. _Heh, I guess I’ll be having a pair of Airpods soon._ (Of course, he doesn’t mean it, he will definitely return it to her once it pops up.) The two are still bickering when a grumpy Seungcheol takes the seat beside him. **“You look terrible.”** He says dryly. Seungcheol frowns even more and stomps his foot slightly, **“I was craving for a steamed bun since morning but when I went to the convenience store, there was only one left, and someone bought it before me. And you know who?! Yoon Jeonghan, from Differential Calculus! I swear he’s taking his revenge because I crushed his tall, handsome and blonde ass in the last quiz bee!”** **“Well, we never liked that man. Still, you could have waited for a new batch?”** Joshua tells him, trying to suppress his laughter. **“The staff said it will take about 20-25 minutes. I don’t wanna be late for class.”** Seungcheol replies sulkily. **“Alright, stop pouting. Let’s buy one later during the mid-break. I didn’t eat anything as well, and calculus is really draining so I’ll surely be hungry as fuck later.”** The other beams widely after hearing this and fixes his things on his desk. Joshua can still hear Arabella whining to Mingyu about her Airpods and he smiles cheekily, _she’s cute._

Their class is 3 hours long, and they have a short break after the first 90 minutes. As the professor announces the break, Arabella and Mingyu dash to the door and Joshua hears her saying, **“I hope my soulmate finds it and returns it to me.”** _Of course I will. When did I ever not return your stuff?_

As promised, he joins Seungcheol in buying a steamed bun. They are walking as fast as they can so they can have enough time to eat before the class resumes. Thankfully, there are not much students at the store when they arrived so they easily got their buns and hurried to their classroom again. They sit at the front row so Joshua is still at the door when he notices something bright on his desk. It’s pink. _Really bright pink._ **“I think your soulmate lost something again.”** Seungcheol laughs. He’s not surprised anymore, to be honest.

Or so he thought.

He’s munching on his steamed bun as he walks closer to their seats. He almost chokes on it after realizing what the bright pink thing is: _it’s a vibrator_. Seungcheol sees it as well and he spits out his bun in shock. **“What the-”** Before he could even finish his sentence, Joshua hurriedly drops his steamed bun and puts the thing in his bag as fast as he can. His face is as red as a tomato and Seungcheol can’t stop laughing at him. Their professor arrives, with Arabella and Mingyu behind him. **“Mr. Hong, are you okay?”** He asks and Arabella tilts her head and looks at him too. Joshua turns even redder, but he forces himself to smile and answer, **“Yes, sir. I’m perfectly fine.”**

Of course he’s not. For some weird reasons, he’s suddenly hyperaware of Arabella. _Has she always been this active in class? Does she really always answer even the unnecessary questions? Why is she so giggly? Why am I so bothered?_ This doesn’t go unnoticed by his seatmate as he feels him elbowing him slightly. When he takes a look at his side, Seungcheol slides him a piece of paper.

**You look dumb. What’s going on?**

He side eyes him and rolls his eyes after seeing Seungcheol pretending to listen to the professor. He writes his reply and slides the paper back to him.

**My soulmate lost her vibrator. That’s what’s going on.**

Seungcheol makes a weird noise after reading his reply, and the professor glares at him so he smiles apologetically.

**Why are you acting like it’s a big thing? You know her, right?**

**Then just return it to her.**

**WTF it’s not that easy.**

**It is, though????**

**You want me to just approach her and go, “Hi, I’m your soulmate**

**And you lost your vibrator so I’m here to give it back to you!”**

**Exactly!**

**Dude fuck off. I’ll probably invite her for coffee or something first.**

And so he does.

The class just ended and Seungcheol has already left for his next class but he stayed. He’s waiting for Arabella. The angels are on his side today because the moment the professor dismissed them, Mingyu took off in a flash. Joshua notices that she’s almost done packing her stuff so he approaches her, **“Uh… Hi… Arabella, right?”** This is the closest they have ever been and he can’t help but notice her features. She’s actually really pretty. **“Oh. Hi! Yes, but you can just call me Bella.”** She says smiling. **“Can I help you with anything?”**

Joshua panics internally. _No, I just want to give you your vibrator back._ **“Uh… D-do you want to have coffee with me?”** He blurts out, and both of them are surprised. But then she just shrugs and carries her back pack, **“Okay but you’re paying!”** she answers while grinning.

He takes her to his favorite café, the place where he found her wallet, low-key wishing she will open up about how she lost her wallet there. **“Oh, I don’t usually go here. What drink should I get?”** She says while looking at the menu screen. She scrunches her nose and Joshua giggles as quietly as he can, _she’s actually REALLY cute._ He ends up ordering for her and she goes inside to reserve a table for them.

Joshua arrives with their drinks in no time and Bella’s eyes light up after tasting the drink he chose for her. **“I love mint chocolate!”** His eyes widen and he raises his hand for a high five, **“Ah! Finally, someone who has taste!”** They chit chat about their love for mint choco and Joshua notes that Bella sing songs her sentences when she’s happy. He’s genuinely enjoying his time with her and none of them even noticed the time until her phone rings, it’s Mingyu, asking her where she is. Her next class is in 10 minutes so as much as she wants to stay, she bids a quick goodbye to Joshua. **“See you in Integral on Friday! Let’s go back here again after class, my treat!”** Joshua just nods and sends her away with a smile.

He’s still smiling to himself as he opens his bag to put his wallet on, and the first thing to welcome him is THE BRIGHT PINK VIBRATOR. _Shit, I totally forgot about this!_ He groans after realizing he has to keep the vibrator until Friday.

**\---------**

Thankfully, Friday came fast, but not as fast as Joshua wanted. He was fidgety the whole Thursday because of the presence of the vibrator in his bag. He even woke up in the middle of the night to make sure it’s still there. _This may be really important to her so I have to make sure to give it back to her safely._

His class before Integral seemed to be toying with him because the professor decided to extend their discussion for 15 more minutes. So now, Joshua is running as fast as he can to not be late for Integral. He arrives and sits beside Seungcheol while panting like a dog, **“For an intelligent person, you’re really dumb.”** He looks at him confusedly, **“Integral is cancelled. The professor has an urgent meeting. Maybe check your phone next time? We just need to sign the attendance sheet.”** Joshua wants to punch himself after hearing what he said, but he felt someone poking his shoulder.

**“Hey!”** Bella greets him energetically. He remembers the vibrator in his bag again and his face turns red in an instant. He faces her slowly, **“Oh hey!” “You’re red as hell, are you okay?”** She asks with concern **, “Yes. I uhh, I didn’t know the class was cancelled so I ran all the way here.”** She pops an ‘oh’ and takes the seat behind him. Seungcheol signs the attendance and taps him goodbye, as he turns his chair to face Bella. **“Why are you alone, where’s Mingyu?”** She pouts after hearing his name, **“He found out who his soulmate is yesterday! Apparently it’s his friend from the Photography club. The one from China. He found a random film roll in his pocket one day and had it developed, I could only imagine the shock on his face when he saw Mingyu in the developed films!”** He nods in amazement and she sighs before speaking again, **“Must be nice to know who your soulmate is, right? I mean I’m one hell of a careless person so I would really appreciate it if my soulmate would return to me the things I keep on losing.”** Joshua’s face turns red in an instant again and he chokes on his own saliva, **“I.. Uh… I.. Have you signed your name on the attendance sheet yet? Yeah I’ll just…”** Bella just nods and signals him to sign. When he gets back, she already has her backpack on. **“I’m starving, let’s eat? My treat!”** She says proudly and Joshua just smiles and picks up his bag.

They arrive at the same café and Bella asks for food recommendations again, which Joshua happily gives her. The place is more crowded now so they settle for a tiny table where they seat beside each other instead of in front of each other. They are talking about the exams in their Integral class when the food arrives.

They were eating in silence when Bella suddenly speaks, **“I’m scared of meeting my soulmate.”**

_Oh._

Joshua doesn’t answer, he just looks at her and waits for her to continue, **“I mean, for me, it puts on a lot of pressure. That I have to like them no matter what happens, because they’re my soulmate. What if they’re the exact opposite of me? Oh my God what if they put milk before cereal?”** She whines. _No worries, I put cereal first_. **“Or what if… What if they don’t like me?”** _I mean I’m still not so sure if I **like** like you, but, I like you._ **“I don’t know, I guess I’m just scared of the possibility of my ‘The One’ not fitting the puzzle? Am I making sense? Oh God I’m sorry I’m rambling.”** He laughs at that and just shakes his head, **“That’s actually true. It’s like the world is forcing us to be with them. Yeah, it’s scary, not knowing who your soulmate is. But it’s not really that fun once you know, or at least not for me.”** Bella’s eyes widen upon hearing this and she slurps her pasta a little too fast that the sauce went all over her chin.

Joshua chuckles and wipes it for her, his hand is still on her chin when she asks, **“You know who your soulmate is?!”** Joshua looks up from her chin and meets her eyes. _It’s you, stupid._ He just stares at her eyes, until she boops her nose, **“Hey.”** He blinks and clears his throat, **“Uhh.. yes. It hasn’t been long, though. I just found something that’s hers.”** She puts her hands on her mouth, as if she were really shocked, before bombarding him with questions, **“So how does it feel? Omg are you guys a thing yet? Did she also know too? Did anything change after you knew it was her? Omg this is so exciting!!!”** She gushes and Joshua takes a sip from his drink while chuckling.

**“Calm down, I’m going to answer everything!”** He sits properly and scratches his cheek a little before answering, **“It’s… kinda weird? Like I see her in the hallways and my mind just goes, ‘Oh, that’s the woman I’ll probably be spending my entire life with!’ And, nope, she doesn’t know. I haven’t told her yet. But I plan on doing so.”** She went ‘Awww’ upon hearing this and Joshua chuckles at that, _You’re her. You’re the one I’ll probably spend my entire life with._ **“Did anything change? As much as I want to deny it, things did change. After I knew it was her, I started paying more attention to her. Even from afar. I started to be familiar with her voice, and even though I won’t admit it, I would secretly look forward to the days when I know I’ll be seeing her.” “Joshua, that’s so cute!!!”** She says and pinches his cheeks. **“Tell me how it goes when you tell her, okay?”**

Joshua doesn’t answer and instead, he holds her hands on his cheeks and looks at her directly in the eye.

**“No, you tell me… soulmate.”**

He takes her hands off and pulls her chair closer. **“What?”** Bella is still confused as hell and she’s so close to calling security. **“Arabella, you are my soulmate.”** He says and smiles sweetly. Her eyes started to grow bigger and her mouth hangs open. Joshua gives her the time to absorb everything. He just sits there and smiles at her. **“Oh my gosh, Joshua Hong from math class, are you for real?!”** She squeaks and Joshua nods while laughing. Her ears turn red and Joshua playfully flicks them.

**“Why didn’t you tell me instantly?!”** She asks as if she were offended, but her wide smile tells him otherwise. **“I actually didn’t want to tell you yet, but then I found something that’s yours. And I think… Uhhh……. I think you’d want them back.”** He says shyly, and instantly, his face turns red again. She smiles even wider at that, **“Is it… Oh my God is it?! God, yes, I know I’m stupid for losing it. It’s something I use on a daily basis so imagine my stress when I realized I manage to lose it!”** His redness goes down to his neck upon hearing this, **“Okay. Okay, no need to tell me that.”** He says while clearing his throat. She crosses her arms at this, **“Why? What’s so wrong with that! I like using it, to be honest. Although I would always hide it from Mingyu, I don’t want him borrowing it… It’s unhygienic!” “OKAY ARABELLA I GET IT OKAY!”** He says and gets his bag. **“And I’m not in any way judging you but yes, you can have your bright as fuck pink vibrator back.”** He says fast, almost incomprehensible.

**“My what now?!”**

Bella’s smile falls down completely and it’s changed with an obvious confused look. **“Are we not talking about my Airpods?”** She asks cluelessly and Joshua motions for her to come closer. He opens his bag and shows her the vibrator, his face is really red up to his ears because _WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!_

 **“Oh. I think I have the same one, but mine is in Baby Blue. That pink shade is painful to the eyes, what the hell?”** She says nonchalantly. Joshua buries his face to his palm, **“Are we not going to talk about the fact that something is obviously wrong here?! You’re my soulmate, but whose is this, if it’s not yours?!”**

Arabella scratches her chin and asks Joshua, **“How did you know I’m your soulmate by the way?”** He just sighs in defeat, **“I find the stuff you lose. I even returned your mechanical pencils last week!”** Her face distorts and she is clearly lost, **“Oh those were from you? I thought I had a secret admirer!” “They weren’t from me _from me_! You lost them! I randomly found them on my locker so I figured you lost them.”**

**“I don’t use mechanical pencils, though. I’m careless as fuck, I always break them.”**

Joshua looks at her blankly, **“You’re kidding, right?”** He looks at her innocently and he knows she’s not. **“Wait what else of ‘my’ stuff did you find?”** She asks, air quoting the ‘my’.

 **“I found your wallet in this café, so I returned it to you by putting it on your desk.”** He says emotionlessly, he’s drained. **“Which wallet is this?” “The black one, with your high school ID and some unopened bandaids?”**

She whistles upon hearing this. **“Well, technically, that’s mine. But I’m not the one who lost it. I lent that to Mingyu’s roommate when I stayed over at their place because his wallet broke and he needed something to put his cash on for the time being. Well, he did mention that he lost it after he bought a new one but then I found it on my desk the next day so I thought he was just shy to give it back to me.”**

Joshua’s eyes widened, **“Okay so who is HE?”**

She smiles and winks at him.

****

****

**_“Jeonghan. Yoon Jeonghan is his name.”_ **

**Author's Note:**

> and if i can summon enough brain cells, i'll probably make this a series.


End file.
